This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Known from the prior art is, for example, a motor vehicle commonly referred to as a pickup truck with a cargo area that has a hinged tailgate. In order to acquire images of the area behind the motor vehicle with a camera unit, the camera unit is integrated into the gate. When the gate is operated, the gate is moved to its open position. In this process, the gate is moved by at least 90° from its position perpendicular to the ground into a horizontal position. This has the result that the camera unit is aimed toward the ground, so that the area behind the vehicle is no longer sensed visually, but instead only the area of the ground located directly below the opened gate. If a user of the pickup truck wishes to drive in reverse with opened gate to approach an unloading point, visualization of an unloading point located behind the motor vehicle is not possible. In order to drive precisely to the unloading point, in particular to an edge of the unloading point, the user of the vehicle must be guided by hand signals from another person, or the user must himself exit the vehicle to verify the distance to the edge of the unloading point. This considerably reduces convenience for the user, since he is either dependent on the help of another person or must exit the motor vehicle. This problem is not restricted to pickup trucks, but also exists for vans that have a large gate that can be moved upward into the horizontal position.
It is thus the object of the invention to improve convenience when a motor vehicle is driven in reverse.